Monday, December 11, 2017 — Over the past month, 94,862 more passengers flew with Brussels Airlines compared to November last year. This passenger growth of 15.6% also led to an increase in the seat load factor.

November was the first month of the 2017-2018 winter program at Brussels Airlines. Traditionally, it is a month with a lot of business traffic. Some summer holiday destinations have disappeared from the flight offer, while new winter destinations such as Sal and Boa Vista (Cape Verde), Lanzarote and Fuerteventura (Canary Islands), Hurghada (Egypt) were offered for the first time. Together with the increased flight frequencies to Tenerife and Gran Canaria, these destinations attracted many holidaymakers.

In total 702,908 passengers checked in for a Brussels Airlines flight, of which 571,647 chose a European destination. That is 12.1% more than in November 2016. The number of passengers that boarded a flight to or from the African continent grew by 34.4% thanks to increased flight frequencies on existing routes and the addition of new destinations (Morocco, Cape Verde). The transatlantic connections (New York & Toronto) also grew slightly (+2.6%) while newcomer Mumbai attracted 9,183 passengers in November.

The seat load factor increased by 2.8 percentage points and amounted to 74.5%.

November was also a strong month of growth for the cargo activity. The cargo load factor increased by 11.7 percentage points and amounted to 75.3%.

In October, many charter flights were carried out on behalf of tour operators at home and abroad. The passenger statistics of these flights are not included in the figures of this press release.